Southwest Airlines Continues Efforts to Rebuild Consumer Confidence Post Holiday Crisis

DALLAS – Southwest Airlines is trying to win back consumer confidence.

Dallas-based carrier announces three-part plan to avert another disaster like last Christmas’s that resulted in around 17,000 flight cancellations, leaving passengers and their luggage stranded at airports countrywide.

Dr. Brent Bowen is the founder of the National Airline Quality Rankings. He is also an air transport pilot.

Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said the company expects to spend $1.3 billion this year to modernize and maintain its IT systems.

“Southwest is trying to make up for what they should have done in the past,” Bowen said. “And I think they identify it and acknowledge it. But there won’t be a cure overnight.”

Part of the upgrade includes crew and consumer scheduling software, and crew phone systems will be improved to handle high call volumes.

This is the change that Southwest Airlines flight attendants have been fighting for.

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During the winter melt, crews reported talking on the phone for hours trying to get a new assignment. By the time they got to the end, it was often too late. Earlier this month, they held a picket at Dallas Love Field.

Part of the December melt was due to groundings due to winter weather conditions. Southwest says it will also buy more engine shrouds and heaters to keep planes flying as long as possible.

“Of course, it can be very helpful,” Bowen said. “However, it is also an acknowledgment that they were not sufficiently prepared for last winter.”

Southwest uses what it calls a point-to-point operation, which means the planes are scattered around airports across the country where weather conditions can change.

“When the planes were somewhere in the harsh winter conditions at night, it is difficult to prepare them for the next flight, say the next morning,” Bowen said.

Southwest is also changing the way its teams work behind the scenes to better respond to operational challenges.

Dr. Bowen says all of these changes are encouraging, but he would like the public to be able to see the airline’s updated reports in the coming months to see if the changes are working.